Abstract

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Pulsed laser deposition is characterized by a broad deposition energy distribution with a mean energy of a few eV or a few tens of eV. The research that comprises this thesis was motivated by a desire to characterize energetic growth effects in pulsed laser deposition of Group IV semiconductor materials in order to understand and manipulate fundamental growth kinetics. This research specifically focuses on energetic effects in growth morphology, in growth on hydrogen-terminated surfaces, and in alloy growth.
In Chapter 1, pulsed laser deposition is introduced. In Chapter 2, simulated growth morphologies for Si growth by molecular beam deposition, sputter deposition, and pulsed laser deposition are compared. Feature atom displacement, an energetic effect, was found to significantly decrease roughness at low substrate temperatures. Pulsed roughening, a temporal effect, was found to slightly increase roughness at high substrate temperatures. In Chapter 3, crystalline Si grown by pulsed laser deposition on dihydride-terminated Si (001) surfaces and by molecular beam deposition and sputter deposition on clean Si (001) surfaces are compared. H transfer and Si subplantation, two energetic effects, were found to enable crystalline growth on dihydride-terminated Si (001) surfaces. In Chapter 4, crystalline [...] grown by solid phase epitaxy and pulsed laser deposition are compared. Solid phase epitaxy was found to produce alloys with compositions no larger than approximately 0.05. Pulsed laser deposition was found to produce alloys with compositions as large as approximately 0.38. Composition was found to increase with ablation energy density. In Appendix A, actual and simulated growth morphologies for Si growth by molecular beam deposition and pulsed laser deposition are compared. In Appendix B, the simulation code is listed.